Abstract:
Urbanisation is the key factor underpinning and catalysing changes in food systems, environmental quality, climate
change and agriculture livelihoods in the overall urban ecosystem setting and its sustainability. The paper explores Dar
es Salaam, a rapidly expanding city in Sub-Saharan Africa, and shows that urban agriculture provides urban ecosystem
services and contributes to environmental sustainability. The interconnections of environmental justice, urban ecosystem services and climate change and variability found eminent feature that influence land governance, productivity and
aesthetic value of the city. The study reaffirms the pivotal role urban agriculture which plays to enhance community
health services and access to resources, with important implications on urban environmental sustainability and redistributive spatial land use planning policies and practices. The process of urbanisation, forms of urban agriculture and
government strategies for enhanced urban food systems in the city economy have been highlighted. Equally, the process
triggers the transformation of settlements from rural in character to modernity with an augmented land use conflicts.
The results suggests that with increasing population, a clear spatial land use planning and management strategy is required to over- come the challenges and enhanced food systems and urban environmental sustainability in rapidly urbanizing cities like Dar es Salaam in Sub-Saharan Africa.
